Number Thirteen
by the-real-jared-kleinman
Summary: Their setter threw a near-perfect toss to their left wing spiker. He slammed the ball down, blinked, and then his spike was on the ground on his side of the court... and the redhead 13 of Karasuno was coming down from a jump. Next gen Haikyuu fic, cousins/ nephews/ siblings of the main cast will make appearances. Also taking OCs, just give team, position, and name! LOL, Zebras!


"That one kid is so fidgety... No. 13, is it? Whenever he's not moving, he's itching or twitching, or something." A spectator commented, just loud enough for one of the coach and manager to hear.

"They're talking about Chihiro, yeah?" the manager asked. She looked about ready to walk up there and beat their asses, but a steady hand from the coach made her pause. "You sure, Sugawara-san?"

"Yeah. It's not worth it, Hinata." The coach shook his head, his silver hair ruffling up a bit.

"If you insist, Coach." She sat back down, watching their players warm up.

One by one, every player sent the ball to their setter, then executed a near flawless spike every time.

As they cycled through, the manager watched #13 as he waited for his turn.

As he moved up, he fidgeted relentlessly, tugging at his hair and clothes and scratching everywhere.

If you didn't know him, you'd think it's nerves.

Once he got the ball in his hands, though, he stopped entirely. Just a single scratch behind his ear and then the ball was in the air and down before you blinked. He just returned to the back of the line to fidget again.

They went through three more cycles, then switched to various other basic moves, each one completed well by nearly every member of their smallish team.

They continued like this for awhile, doing two sessions of each move before the whistle was blown and they cleaned up to play their match.

The two teams lined up on their respective sides of the net, orange and blue on the left and red and black on the right; both sides bowing and shouting out a quick "Thank you for the game!" in synchronization.

Then six players filed into the court itself while the rest waited on the sidelines.

"Nekoma is choosing 17, 5, 10, 3, 9, and 7? I want to see what they do..." the manager whispered under her breath. "I'm glad we stuck with our usual, Sugawara-san. They're all very reliable."

"Yes, though I'm a bit worried about our #12. He seems a bit down in the dumps." Sugawara replied. "What do you think, Hinata?"

She jumped a bit, but turned to face them. "Well, he certainly seems a bit down, but I want to see what #13 does about it. He is, after all, captain."

"True." Sugawara replied.

* * *

"You alright, 12?" #13 asked, tugging on his sleeve.

"Yeah, Chihiro, I'm fine. We're just up against a tough opponent. I can tell he'll be hard to beat in particular." #12 said, pointing at their #17. "I've seen him before. He's an excellent setter. He knows how to hit all the right sets for the spikers to do their things."

"But, we have 3, don't we? He's better. With his dad's accuracy, how could he not be?" Chihiro pointed out.

"Right! You always know just what to say, Chihiro!" With that, both got into position, with Chihiro at the back right of the court and #12 at the top left. #3 was next to #12, and gave #12 a reassuring squeeze before getting in position next to their other star player, #6.

Their captain, #2, gave the fidgety #13 a thumbs up to serve, right before a ball bounced into his hands. Immediately, he stopped moving, itching the inside of his elbow one last time. All his teammates' eyes were on him as he set up a server's toss, running after it and giving a truly massive jump. He swung at the ball, felt his hand connect, and sent it over to the other team with tremendous speed, and the enemy libero was only just barely able to dig it up.

Their #3 helped, sending it over to their #17; who then proceeded to set up a toss for their #10, who spiked hard.

* * *

#10 blinked, and then his spike was on the ground and #13 was going down from a jump.

Before #10 even realized what had happened, #13's team was cheering so loud that he couldn't have said anything if he wanted to.

Karasuno had already gotten the point.

"How did that happen, Majo?" one of his teammates asked. "I never saw him move!"

"I don't- I don't know! I didn't even see him anywhere!"

* * *

Chihiro grinned, hiding it behind itching his cheek.

Shoyou-san was right.

The more they underestimated you, the better.

He itched behind his ear, then each of his knees in succession, and #2 itched his elbow once to show he understood.

The other team didn't even notice, too caught up on the fact that 'the itchy guy with weird eyes is actually an awesome player! How'd he move like that?!', and stuff.

Then the whistle blew, and he threw a float serve. It went down just after the net, and the other side just barely dug it up with their libero, #5.

Their #17 barely managed to set up correctly, but their #10 spiked near perfectly.

Too bad Chihiro was already blocking it.

It hit his fingertips, and he yelled a quick "One touch!"

His libero, #6, hit it perfectly to #12, who set up his favorite toss.

He jumped, as did three blockers.

But their timing was a bit off, they were going down as he reached the top of his arc, and he spiked it. It slammed down right between their #7 and #9. Neither had even tried to stop it, too focused on the ball and not enough on where it was going.

Chihiro scoffed.

The whistle blew, and Karasuno got a second point.

He set up a second jump serve, and their #9 received it well. It was in the perfect position for their #17, who set for their #7 instead of their #10.

#7 made it through the block, but #6 recieved it, sending it to #12 who set up just as Chihiro, #2, and #3 ran in harmony.

Both #2 and Chihiro jumped, and the blocks were wasted on them playing decoy as #3 smashed the ball down just before the out line.

#3 went down, his fluffy black hair floofing upwards as the other team stared in disbelief.

Then Karasuno erupted into cheers again, because their third point was just scored.

The final score was 19:25 of Karasuno's second set.

The other team was utterly crushed, not for lack of trying.

But Karasuno did have some crazy players this year.

Koushi Sugawara shook his head, hands on his hips.

 _'Daichi would have loved to work with these guys.'_

"Yeah! Karasuno!" a ginger cheered from the stands. He called out to Sugawara, "Hey, Sugamama, Dadchi says hi! He wishes he could be here, but his game ran long!"

"Hey, Shouyou! It's been a while! How's Tobio?" Sugawara shouted back.

"Pouting because he sprained his wrist so he has to share me with Oikawa." Shouyou chuckled. "Oikawa's happy about getting at Tobio, but Iwaizumi is almost sulking."

"That's good to hear! Your little sister makes a great assistant coach!"

"Natsu's the best! I knew she could do it!"

The two friends continued chatting, eventually joined by a short man with blond streaks running through his brown hair and a much taller man with long brown hair loosely gathered with a sweatband.

* * *

"Good game, #10." Chihiro said, offering his slim hand shyly.

#10 grabbed it reluctantly, shaking once before attempting to withdraw. Chihiro held his hand firmly, preventing him from leaving. "My name's Nao Chihiro. If not for my friend #3, your team would have most likely overpowered ours in the second set. Don't just give up."

And then Chihiro let go, leaving a bewildered left wing spiker in the middle of the court.

"Hey, Majo! It's time to line up!" a teammate called.

"Right." He jogged over, staring at his hand in bewilderment.

Both teams lined up where they had at the beginning of the game, and bowed; shouting in unison, "Thank you for the game!"

Then both teams relocated to their respective cheering sections and coaches and did the same.

Chihiro gave a lazy wave to his cousin, twin taped fingers trilling lazily.

"Oh, you're related to the Guess Monster? Crazy!" #3 said, walking next to Chihiro.

"And your dad is the Little Giant. What is your point?"

#3 chuckled. "Good point."


End file.
